Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama – Nature versus Nurture

Axxxxxx Mxxxxxx

Colorado Technical University

The Dalai Lama – Nature versus Nurture

“Personality refers to individuals' characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior, together with the psychological mechanisms - hidden or not - behind those patterns.” (Funder, D. C., 1997). In this study we are going to look at one facet of the personality of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, this most unique aspect of the Dalai Lama’s personality is warmth. As described in Cattell’s personality analysis warmth is described by the underlying traits of being cooperative, trusting, soft hearted, and adaptable. This is but one of Cattell’s 16 personality factors discussed in his theory of personality.

We can, with relative ease, draw to the conclusion by first taking a look at His Holiness’s message of compassion. “I believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. From the moment of birth, every human being wants happiness and does not want suffering. Neither social conditioning nor education nor ideology affect this” (The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, 2013).  When we understand the teachings of the Dalai Lama as purely about peace, love, and harmony; we must look back at his upbringing, as he was taught the perfection of wisdom; as well as the canon of monastic discipline, and metaphysics. We are then able to see the correlation between the trusting, soft hearted warmth trait and the nature versus nurture debate.

Traits such as those of the warmth personality are most likely genetic, as we as humans are born to be compassionate and empathetic; however it has to be nurtured, molded and taught. It has to be developed over time, by caring and loving teachers. This is shown to be true as we look to the past of the Dalai Lama; from the age of three he was raised and nurtured by the most caring and nurturing Tibetan monks and clerics of all time. It was this nurturing that empowered him to become the caring,...